Tuesday 15 December 2015
Wednesday 9 December 2015
Tuesday 8 December 2015
Monday 7 December 2015
Hour of Code 2015
Hi all, this week marks the start of the Year's 'Hour of Code' event. All across the world, students will be investing time in developing their understanding of programming language - regardless of ability level or age!
Computers are everywhere, but fewer schools worldwide teach computer science than 10 years ago. The good news is, we’re on our way to changing this. If you've heard about the Hour of Code before, you might know it made history. More than 100 million students have tried an Hour of Code.
With the Hour of Code, computer science has been on homepages of Google, MSN, Yahoo! and Disney. Over 100 partners joined together to support this movement. Last year, every Apple Store in the world hosted an Hour of Code and even President Obama wrote his first line of code as part of the campaign.
This year, let's make it even bigger. Why don't you join in the Hour of Code 2015? Get involved with an Hour of Code event during Computer Science Education Week, December 7-13.
Try the Hour of Code yourself -- everyone can benefit from learning the basics.
Get started at http://hourofcode.com/uk
Friday 4 December 2015
Wednesday 2 December 2015
What happens in your brain when you make a memory?
You might imagine memory is a Santa’s sack of life events and the first half of jokes. You would be wrong. Neuroscientist Dean Burnett explains all
We all have memories, as far as I can remember. But where do these memories come from and how do they get made?
People often compare the brain to a computer, but the brain doesn’t have USB slots that allow you to pick up new information by jamming a flash drive in your ear. That would be convenient, if a little painful.
So where do we get all this information sloshing around in our skulls? You might imagine human memory is a bit like a Santa’s sack filled with life events, song lyrics and the first half of jokes. But in truth, “memory” is not one single solid thing. It is a term covering lots of types of recollections that are surprisingly distinct, and used constantly in different combinations by a typical human.
Short-term memory – like writing your name with a sparkler
We’ve all heard about short-term and long-term memory. While people tend to use the phrase “short-term memory” to refer to our recall of things that happened recently – in the last hour or day – technically speaking, it’s actually far more fleeting. Short-term memory typically lasts between 15 and 30 seconds: it’s a bit like writing your name in the air with a sparkler. Any memory that can be recalled after that length of time is a long-term memory.
In computer terms, short-term memory is like the RAM – it holds the information we’re currently working with or using for cognitive tasks (thinking). This can be new information delivered by our senses, for example, or old information retrieved from the long-term memory. Neuroscientists theorise that all this thinking is supported by patterns of neuron activity in the prefrontal cortex (that bit at the front of your brain).
Long-term memory - information becomes a physical ‘thing’
Luckily, for memories we actually want to keep, there’s also long-term memory. If short-term memory is the RAM of a computer, long-term memory is the hard drive, which keeps everything from your failed screenplays to Minesweeper scores.
Unlike short-term memories, long-term memories have a physical presence in the brain, and aren’t dependant purely on specific patterns of activity. Neurons make new physical connections and synapses with each other when a new long-term memory is formed. This connection endures whether it’s being used or not.
Long-term memory can be split into explicit and implicit memory. Implicit memories include habits and skills that we can do automatically, such as rolling a cigarette, driving a car, forging your boss’s signature on expense forms.
Explicit memories are things we’re consciously aware of and are intentionally trying to remember. There are two kinds of explicit memory: episodic and semantic. Episodic memory is memory for things and events that happened to you. Semantic memory is for more general knowledge. Knowing Paris is the capital of France is a semantic memory, remembering being sick on your trip to Paris is an episodic memory.
Encoding – a terrifyingly complex tapestry in real time
When we actually want to learn something, it is long-term memories we are interested in. So how are they formed? The first step is to encode a piece of information – otherwise it quickly disappears, like breath on a mirror.
Information is channelled to the hippocampus, the brain region crucial for the formation of new memories and one of the only places in the brain where brand new neurons are regularly generated. The hippocampus links all of the relevant information together and encodes it into a new memory by forming new synapses. It’s basically like someone knitting a terrifyingly complex tapestry in real time.
But not all information is equal in the eyes of the hippocampus. “Important” things are encoded more readily and effectively than routine or incomprehensible things, like an uneventful daily commute, or the lyrics of a dance song in a language you don’t recognise. The hippocampus will prioritise those that have been rehearsed repeatedly in the short-term memory, or those with a strong emotional component. The hippocampus is selective because it is very busy.
Finding a home for your memories
Coding a memory is all well and good, but it is useless if it has nowhere to go. Finding a storage place is the next step.
Newer memories, once consolidated, appear to reside in the hippocampus for a while. But as more memories are formed, the neurons that represent a specific memory migrate further into the cortex. As a result, memories are stored throughout the brain. It’s a bit like the internet, which is made of information spread all across the planet and accessed via countless connections.
Similar memories tend to clump together – spoken memories near the language centres, visual memories near the visual cortex – and there’s a lot of redundancy too; you can have several memories for the same thing. Every time they are activated they are strengthened. Human memories aren’t stored like books in a library; they’re constantly being updated and tweaked.
Recalling memories you’ve forgotten you forgot
So how do you go about getting the bits you need out of this weird, ever-shifting library of information? It might seem as though lots of the so-called long-term memories have actually turned to dust because there are plenty of things you’ve forgotten: old addresses, passwords, deadlines for articles about the memory system that you promised to write.
The problem here is not that it has disappeared, but rather that you can’t recall it. It’s a bit like losing a glove – you still own a glove, it’s in your home somewhere, but you can’t use it.
Recall is a very impressive but slightly mysterious process. When we want to access a memory from the dark recesses of our brain, signals from our frontal cortex link to that memory via uncertain means, and the memory is reconstructed from the information available. The more often you use the memory, the easier it is to find.
Revising and remembering is a crucial part of the learning process. And there are things you can do to make it easier – some stranger than others. Being in the presence of some of the elements from the original memory helps retrieval. For example, if you learned something while in a swimming pool, you’ll remember it better while in a swimming pool at a later date (they’ve actually shown this).
Is there such a thing as too many memories? Maybe. Ever tried to learn a new phone number and then found it impossible to remember the old one, even though you had it for years? Constantly updating memories can supposedly “supplant” existing ones, so you end up remembering things differently. This is known as “interference” and can lead toforgetting. As far as I can recall.
This blog is the first of a new series exploring the psychology and neuroscience of learning. Get involved with the Use your head series by joining the discussion on #useyourhead or pitching your ideas to holly.young@guardian.co.uk
We all have memories, as far as I can remember. But where do these memories come from and how do they get made?
People often compare the brain to a computer, but the brain doesn’t have USB slots that allow you to pick up new information by jamming a flash drive in your ear. That would be convenient, if a little painful.
So where do we get all this information sloshing around in our skulls? You might imagine human memory is a bit like a Santa’s sack filled with life events, song lyrics and the first half of jokes. But in truth, “memory” is not one single solid thing. It is a term covering lots of types of recollections that are surprisingly distinct, and used constantly in different combinations by a typical human.
Short-term memory – like writing your name with a sparkler
We’ve all heard about short-term and long-term memory. While people tend to use the phrase “short-term memory” to refer to our recall of things that happened recently – in the last hour or day – technically speaking, it’s actually far more fleeting. Short-term memory typically lasts between 15 and 30 seconds: it’s a bit like writing your name in the air with a sparkler. Any memory that can be recalled after that length of time is a long-term memory.
In computer terms, short-term memory is like the RAM – it holds the information we’re currently working with or using for cognitive tasks (thinking). This can be new information delivered by our senses, for example, or old information retrieved from the long-term memory. Neuroscientists theorise that all this thinking is supported by patterns of neuron activity in the prefrontal cortex (that bit at the front of your brain).
Long-term memory - information becomes a physical ‘thing’
Luckily, for memories we actually want to keep, there’s also long-term memory. If short-term memory is the RAM of a computer, long-term memory is the hard drive, which keeps everything from your failed screenplays to Minesweeper scores.
Unlike short-term memories, long-term memories have a physical presence in the brain, and aren’t dependant purely on specific patterns of activity. Neurons make new physical connections and synapses with each other when a new long-term memory is formed. This connection endures whether it’s being used or not.
Long-term memory can be split into explicit and implicit memory. Implicit memories include habits and skills that we can do automatically, such as rolling a cigarette, driving a car, forging your boss’s signature on expense forms.
Explicit memories are things we’re consciously aware of and are intentionally trying to remember. There are two kinds of explicit memory: episodic and semantic. Episodic memory is memory for things and events that happened to you. Semantic memory is for more general knowledge. Knowing Paris is the capital of France is a semantic memory, remembering being sick on your trip to Paris is an episodic memory.
Encoding – a terrifyingly complex tapestry in real time
When we actually want to learn something, it is long-term memories we are interested in. So how are they formed? The first step is to encode a piece of information – otherwise it quickly disappears, like breath on a mirror.
Information is channelled to the hippocampus, the brain region crucial for the formation of new memories and one of the only places in the brain where brand new neurons are regularly generated. The hippocampus links all of the relevant information together and encodes it into a new memory by forming new synapses. It’s basically like someone knitting a terrifyingly complex tapestry in real time.
But not all information is equal in the eyes of the hippocampus. “Important” things are encoded more readily and effectively than routine or incomprehensible things, like an uneventful daily commute, or the lyrics of a dance song in a language you don’t recognise. The hippocampus will prioritise those that have been rehearsed repeatedly in the short-term memory, or those with a strong emotional component. The hippocampus is selective because it is very busy.
Finding a home for your memories
Coding a memory is all well and good, but it is useless if it has nowhere to go. Finding a storage place is the next step.
Newer memories, once consolidated, appear to reside in the hippocampus for a while. But as more memories are formed, the neurons that represent a specific memory migrate further into the cortex. As a result, memories are stored throughout the brain. It’s a bit like the internet, which is made of information spread all across the planet and accessed via countless connections.
Similar memories tend to clump together – spoken memories near the language centres, visual memories near the visual cortex – and there’s a lot of redundancy too; you can have several memories for the same thing. Every time they are activated they are strengthened. Human memories aren’t stored like books in a library; they’re constantly being updated and tweaked.
Recalling memories you’ve forgotten you forgot
So how do you go about getting the bits you need out of this weird, ever-shifting library of information? It might seem as though lots of the so-called long-term memories have actually turned to dust because there are plenty of things you’ve forgotten: old addresses, passwords, deadlines for articles about the memory system that you promised to write.
The problem here is not that it has disappeared, but rather that you can’t recall it. It’s a bit like losing a glove – you still own a glove, it’s in your home somewhere, but you can’t use it.
Recall is a very impressive but slightly mysterious process. When we want to access a memory from the dark recesses of our brain, signals from our frontal cortex link to that memory via uncertain means, and the memory is reconstructed from the information available. The more often you use the memory, the easier it is to find.
Revising and remembering is a crucial part of the learning process. And there are things you can do to make it easier – some stranger than others. Being in the presence of some of the elements from the original memory helps retrieval. For example, if you learned something while in a swimming pool, you’ll remember it better while in a swimming pool at a later date (they’ve actually shown this).
Is there such a thing as too many memories? Maybe. Ever tried to learn a new phone number and then found it impossible to remember the old one, even though you had it for years? Constantly updating memories can supposedly “supplant” existing ones, so you end up remembering things differently. This is known as “interference” and can lead toforgetting. As far as I can recall.
This blog is the first of a new series exploring the psychology and neuroscience of learning. Get involved with the Use your head series by joining the discussion on #useyourhead or pitching your ideas to holly.young@guardian.co.uk
Memory Encoding
Encoding is the first step in creating a memory. It's a biological phenomenon, rooted in the senses, that begins with perception. Consider, for example, the memory of the first person you ever fell in love with. When you met that person, your visual system likely registered physical features, such as the color of their eyes and hair. Your auditory system may have picked up the sound of their laugh. You probably noticed the scent of their perfume or cologne. You may even have felt the touch of their hand. Each of these separate sensations traveled to the part of your brain called the hippocampus, which integrated these perceptions as they were occurring into one single experience -- your experience of that specific person.
Experts believe that the hippocampus, along with another part of the brain called the frontal cortex, is responsible for analyzing these various sensory inputs and deciding if they're worth remembering. If they are, they may become part of your long-term memory. As indicated earlier, these various bits of information are then stored in different parts of the brain. How these bits and pieces are later identified and retrieved to form a cohesive memory, however, is not yet known.
Although a memory begins with perception, it is encoded and stored using the language of electricity and chemicals. Here's how it works: Nerve cells connect with other cells at a point called a synapse. All the action in your brain occurs at these synapses, where electrical pulses carrying messages leap across gaps between cells.
The electrical firing of a pulse across the gap triggers the release of chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters diffuse across the spaces between cells, attaching themselves to neighboring cells. Each brain cell can form thousands of links like this, giving a typical brain about 100 trillion synapses. The parts of the brain cells that receive these electric impulses are called dendrites, feathery tips of brain cells that reach out to neighboring brain cells.
The connections between brain cells aren't set in concrete -- they change all the time. Brain cells work together in a network, organizing themselves into groups that specialize in different kinds of information processing. As one brain cell sends signals to another, the synapse between the two gets stronger. The more signals sent between them, the stronger the connection grows. Thus, with each new experience, your brain slightly rewires its physical structure. In fact, how you use your brain helps determine how your brain is organized. It is this flexibility, which scientists call plasticity, that can help your brain rewire itself if it is ever damaged.
As you learn and experience the world and changes occur at the synapses and dendrites, more connections in your brain are created. The brain organizes and reorganizes itself in response to your experiences, forming memories triggered by the effects of outside input prompted by experience, education, or training.
These changes are reinforced with use, so that as you learn and practice new information, intricate circuits of knowledge and memory are built in the brain. If you play a piece of music over and over, for example, the repeated firing of certain cells in a certain order in your brain makes it easier to repeat this firing later on. The result: You get better at playing the music. You can play it faster, with fewer mistakes. Practice it long enough and you will play it perfectly. Yet if you stop practicing for several weeks and then try to play the piece, you may notice that the result is no longer perfect. Your brain has already begun to forget what you once knew so well.
To properly encode a memory, you must first be paying attention. Since you cannot pay attention to everything all the time, most of what you encounter every day is simply filtered out, and only a few stimuli pass into your conscious awareness. If you remembered every single thing that you noticed, your memory would be full before you even left the house in the morning. What scientists aren't sure about is whether stimuli are screened out during the sensory input stage or only after the brain processes its significance. What we do know is that how you pay attention to information may be the most important factor in how much of it you actually remember.
The next page provides details on how information is stored in short-term and long-term memory.
Tuesday 24 November 2015
Tuesday 17 November 2015
Minecraft joins the Hour of Code!
Since the very beginning, probably the #1 Hour of Code request we’ve heard is a tutorial featuring “Minecraft,” a game very special to girls and boys alike. We heard you! Today, we present Minecraft Hour of Code, in partnership with Microsoft and Mojang AB for the Hour of Code coming in just three weeks.
Saturday 24 October 2015
Scrabble Challenges
A nice little website to use along with the Snipping Tool to create some Scrabble challenges if you fancy...
Thursday 22 October 2015
Wednesday 21 October 2015
Tuesday 13 October 2015
A really accessible episode about Alan Turing and why computers use binary:
A really accessible episode about Alan Turing and why computers use binary:
"Dick and Dom reveal the genius of Alan Turing, World War II codebreaker and the man behind the modern-day computer. Inspired by Turing's genius, Dick and Dom come up with their own genius idea, when they use the power of computers to put on a spectacular fireworks display."
Monday 12 October 2015
Wednesday 30 September 2015
The Power of “Five-Whys”
The “Five Whys” is a technique used in the Analyze phase of the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology. The “Five Whys” is a great Six Sigma tool that doesn’t involve a statistical hypothesis and in many cases can be completed without a data collection plan. (http://www.isixsigma.com)
I have talked about the “Five-Whys” technique in some of my classes. It is an excellent technique for root cause analysis. It can take you from surface symptoms to underlying cause. The “Five-Whys” is useful because of the following reasons:
- Help identify the root cause of a problem.
- Determine the relationship between different root causes of a problem.
- One of the simplest tools; easy to complete without statistical analysis. (http://www.isixsigma.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1308&Itemid=200)
The“Five-Whys” are particularly useful in situations that involve human factors or interactions. They can be used outside of the Six Sigma context.
The term “Five-Whys” is not intended as a literal term. A team might need more or less than five whys to tunnel down to the root cause of a problem. When starting the process, it is important not “lead” the questioning to a preconceived “why.” (http://www.qualitytrainingportal.com/resources/problem_solving/problem-solving_tools-5whys.htm)
While the “Five-Whys” is a very useful tool, it does have some limitations. The brainstorming storming required to do “Five-Whys” is time-consuming when compared to other methods. This method can be particularly arduous for larger groups.
The results garnered from the brainstorming used in the “Five-Whys” technique may vary according to group and are difficult to reproduce. Even after the process has been followed, the root causes may not be identified. There is no means to verify that the root causes were identified. (http://www.oshatrain.org/notes/2hnotes10.html)
This post is laced with excellent resources and I have provided a link to a template that is helpful to use with this technique.
Tuesday 15 September 2015
Friday 11 September 2015
Wednesday 17 June 2015
Friday 15 May 2015
Friday 8 May 2015
Using Minecraft in Education : Cross Curricular Ideas
From http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/
Minecraft is an open sandbox game that allows players to construct their own world. They can build structures, farm animals, mine for resources and much more. There are different modes to the game; Survival Mode is a challenging mode where the player needs to fight for survival against other creatures in the world, and Creative Mode provides unlimited resources to build and create without limitations.
I’ve been investigating Creative Mode as it’s easier to build large structures quickly.
Minecraft can be played individually, or as a multiplayer environment allowing children to cooperate to build and explore together. In Multiplayer mode they connect to a Minecraft Server on the internet or locally (running on a game hosted by one of the computers).
Minecraft is available in many flavours, including a Raspberry Pi version, a pocket edition for the iPad and a Educational version.
Here are a few ways that Minecraft can be used to support different curriculum subjects.
Minecraft and Numeracy
Minecraft can be used to pose numerical problems within a meaningful context. Children can calculate areas, perimeters and volumes of buildings they have created.
Minecraft can be used to investigate many 2D and 3D shape such as prisms, cubes and pyramids.
Minecraft and Science
The Minecraft world uses real ecological zones, such as forests, deserts and mountains. Children can relate their understanding of habitats and the environment to these regions, and explore them virtually. Also, animals can be farmed and will need to be looked after, teaching children about the needs of living things.
Minecraft also allows for models to be built, such as a giant plant cell or an animal cell, a nice idea from Alex Gething. Models could be made of solids, liquids and gases using blocks.
The building blocks within Minecraft have very different properties from one another. This gives an opportunity to talk about materials and how we use them. Metals such as iron and gold are produced by smelting ores and sand can be heated to make glass. This can help to give children an understanding raw and manufactured materials.
Here are some more ideas for using Minecraft in Science.
Minecraft and Literacy
Children can use their experiences within Minecraft as a stimulus for writing work. They can use it as a basis for writing stories and poems. They could recreate buildings from books they are reading.
Minecraft can be an opportunity for writing instructional texts. Children could build a house, then write instructions for other children to replicate it. Or a guide to surviving in Minecraft.
Minecraft and Geography
Minecraft can be used to explore many geographical features. The game includes cliffs, mountains, ravines, beaches and lakes. There is lava, which will turn to stone when it meets water. Lakes will freeze if they get too cold. Many different rocks are included in the game; such as sandstone, obsidian etc. Children can then find out about where these materials come from, and how we use them.
Minecraft and History
Minecraft could be used to construct famous buildings from History, such as Egyptian or Mayan pyramids, or Roman or Greek temples. Children could investigate castles by building their own one.
Minecraft and Computing
Minecraft includes a set of resources known as Redstone, which can be used much like electrical circuits are used in the real world. Redstone can be connected to switches to turn on lights and open doors, for example. Children can set up a simple system with a light sensor to make a light come on when it gets dark in the game, or a pressure pad that opens a door.
With the right set up, you can even build AND and NOT gates. Here’s some more info on how to do that.
It’s even possible to add modifications or “mods” to Minecraft that allow for more sophisticated coding opportunities. A mod such as Scriptcraft lets children program in JavaScript within Minecraft. The children can also build their own mods using software such as LearnToMod.
There’s plenty of ways that a game such as Minecraft can be used in the classroom, and not just within computing lessons.
Read more http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2015/02/using-minecraft-in-education-cross-curricular-ideas/
Tuesday 31 March 2015
Heads' threat to parents over computer games
Head teachers in Cheshire have warned parents they will report them to the authorities if they allow their children to play computer games rated for over-18s.
The letter was sent by the Nantwich Education Partnership group to parents from 16 schools in the county.
The heads claim games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty contain unsuitable levels of violence.
They warn parents they could be reported for neglect in some cases.
'Keep safe'
The heads state that playing such games or accessing certain social media sites can increase early sexualised behaviour in youngsters and leave them vulnerable to grooming for sexual exploitation.
Mary Hennessy Jones, the head who drafted the letter, said: "We are trying to help parents to keep their children as safe as possible in this digital era.
"It is so easy for children to end up in the wrong place and parents find it helpful to have some very clear guidelines."
Prime Minister David Cameron announced this month that adults in positions of responsibility could face prison sentences of up to five years if they failed to report allegations of the neglect or abuse of children.
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Safer Internet Day 2015
This weeks WOW is about 'Safer Internet Day' (SID) which is next week, Tuesday 10th February.
The theme is 'Let's Create a Better Internet Together' The idea behind the theme is to make a better internet by doing something to help someone online or to help someone in the community have a better experience on the internet.
Cyber Seniors for example help older people learn about different websites and how they can make their lives easier and more enjoyable.
Watch this video: http://
How could you make a better internet?
Questions to consider:
What could you do online to help someone or make someone feel better?
What could you do in the community or at home to help someone have a better / safer experience online?
Some other examples:
- Teach a parent how to secure Facebook privacy settings.
- Teach a young brother or sister on how to have a good reputation online.
- Compliment a friend online.
In your pigeon holes I have put a Up2Us pledge card. The ICT department would like to make a flipagram similar to this one http://flipagram.com/f/
If you can please can you write a pledge as a tutor group using the card provided on the theme of ''Let's Create a Better Internet Together'. Can you then take a photograph of it (does not need to have person in photo) and send it to c.james@wildern.hants.sch.
For more information here is the SID website, we have been added to Supporter page!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)